Nathan Leuthold found guilty of killing his wife Denise

PEORIA — A Peoria County jury took only about 90 minutes Monday to convict a former Baptist missionary of killing his wife on Valentine’s Day 2013.

Nathan Leuthold, 39, didn’t move or show any emotion, maintaining the stoic face he’s had for much of the six-day trial, where he’s listened to prosecutors outline how he laid in wait and “executed” his wife, Denise, about 12:30 p.m. Feb. 14, 2013.

The second-floor courtroom was largely empty as many had stepped outside or believed the jury wasn’t close to reaching a verdict. So only a few were in the room about 5:50 p.m., when three knocks were heard, the signal that a decision had been reached.

That decision was foreshadowed by laughter in the jury room just minutes before.

Prosecutors argued Nathan Leuthold killed his wife to be with his lover, a 21-year-old Lithuanian woman whom he and Denise Leuthold sponsored to study in the United States. He staged the break-in at his in-laws’ home, 700 W. Mossville Road, where he and his family were staying, to cover his tracks.

Within hours of Denise Leuthold’s body being found about 3 p.m. that day, police honed in on Nathan Leuthold as a suspect. Testimony from detectives said the former missionary didn’t “act right” when he was told about his wife’s death and that the scene seemed too neat and orderly for a burglary.

“Obviously we are a bit disappointed with the verdict,” said defense attorney Hugh Toner. “It makes absolutely no sense to me that you would stage a burglary and say that I don’t want to do anything to harm my in-laws’ furniture but yet in their home, I am willing to kill their daughter.”

After the verdict was read, Judge Kevin Lyons ordered Nathan Leuthold handcuffed and revoked his bond. His parents declined to comment and quickly left the building after the verdict, but not before one member of his family reached over and hugged Diane Newton, Denise Leuthold’s mother.

“We are glad to see that the justice system worked,” Newton said. “It was hard to hear that it was so calculated and there was a time when we felt scared about what would happen to us and the kids.”

Nathan Leuthold now faces at least 45 years and possibly up to life in prison when sentenced Sept. 10.

During the nearly six days of the trial, jurors listened to about 40 witnesses and nearly two hours of closing arguments.

State’s Attorney Jerry Brady called the shooting an “execution.” The first sentence of his closing argument set the tone of the state’s case.

“What person would take his children’s funds to hire an attorney to silence his lover from talking to the police,” he said, referring to Aina Dobilaite, the Lithuanian woman.

It came out during the trial that Nathan Leuthold’s family had paid her legal fees and had told her not to talk to police.

Brady’s assistant, Jodi Hoos, blasted Nathan Leuthold for killing his wife and the mother of his three children, who now live with the Newtons, as a Valentine’s Day present for Dobilaite.

“That’s why he did give the children Valentine’s Day cards before school — because he was going to murder their mother a few hours later,” Hoos said.

But Toner set out a theory that another person broke into the house. Prosecutors didn’t prove his client shot his wife, Toner said, and failed even to prove Nathan Leuthold was having an affair with Dobilaite.

The defense attorney also turned the police’s zeal to go after Nathan Leuthold against them, saying they didn’t look anywhere else and focused on Nathan Leuthold for the wrong reasons.

Yes, the attorney said, Nathan Leuthold was arrogant and, at times, stone faced but that doesn’t mean he didn’t care and it didn’t mean the police shouldn’t look elsewhere.

Hoos blasted that, saying the state had far and away proved its case. She noted Nathan Leuthold was obsessed with perfection and that’s why he did dozens of Internet searches for how to kill someone with poison or how to silence a .40-caliber Glock handgun, the same type of gun that fired the fatal round.

She also noted several deleted text messages and emails to Dobilaite that were flirtatious in nature. And she noted that a burglar would have had to be incredibly lucky to pick the one time that Denise Leuthold was alone and then made the choice to kill her. That wasn’t likely, she said.

Toner attacked the notion Nathan Leuthold would use his own computer to search for ways to kill his wife.

“Why would he do that,” the attorney asked the panel of 12. “I think the Internet searches are like a bad thought, except if you do the search, it’s out there forever.”

Toner put on a handful of witnesses, mostly Peoria police officers, to try to punch holes in the state’s case. He also tried to link the shooting on Feb. 14, 2013, to a series of home invasions that terrorized North Peoria last year. The attorney even tried to say Nathan Leuthold resembled the alleged ringleader of those home invasions, Perry Rosetto, 44, of Peoria.

But Lyons blocked that after prosecutors objected, saying those all happened after Denise Leuthold was killed and the pattern of those home invasions wasn’t similar enough.

The trial was the first one that allowed reporters to cover the courtroom proceedings live and use cameras. Lyons noted that on the trial’s final day and mentioned a retired Peoria County judge, Calvin Stone, who practiced in that same room for more than 20 years.

He was trying to link the past to the future by mentioning Stone as well as noting the changing nature of reporting. Neither Lyons nor any of the attorneys said having cameras or reporters covering the trial on social media affected how they conducted their cases.

Of the 40 or so witnesses, only two requested not to be photographed.

Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @andykravetz.